All but one of the world’s top 20 most polluted cities last year were in Asia, a new study shows.

The majority of these cities – 13 – are in the world’s most populous country, India, where booming economic growth is fired largely by coal and where hundreds of millions live in traffic-clogged and congested megacities.

Another four are in neighboring Pakistan, with one in China and Kazakhstan respectively.

The only city outside of Asia featured on the list is N’Djamena, the capital of Chad in central Africa – which was named the country with the worst air pollution.

Meanwhile the cities with the worst pollution in North America were all in California.

The report by IQAir, a Swiss company that tracks global air quality, looked specifically at fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, one of the smallest but most dangerous pollutants.

PM2.5 comes from sources like the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires. It is so tiny – 1/20th of a width of a human hair – that it can travel past your body’s usual defenses into your lungs or bloodstream.

The particles cause irritation and inflammation and have been linked to respiratory problems and chronic kidney disease. Exposure can cause cancer, stroke or heart attacks and has been associated with a higher risk of depression and anxiety.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says average annual levels of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic meter.

Byrnihat, an industrial town in northeast India recorded a PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 last year – more than 25 times the WHO’s standard.

“It feels very sad and helpless that Byrnihat keeps topping the list ,” Suman Momin, 26, who lives in the city of around 70,000, told CNN.

She blamed factories around the town and a booming construction industry and trees being felled as contributing to the toxic air.

“The pollution is particularly bad right now, visibility is not great, there is dust everywhere, my eyes also burn,” she said.

“I do not leave home without a mask.”

Twelve other cities in the top 20 are in India.

Its capital New Delhi featured as the world’s most polluted capital for the sixth consecutive year, with a PM2.5 concentration of 91.8. The report also listed six satellite cities – Faridabad, Loni, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Greater Noida – making the list.

Just last November, a throat-searing blanket of smog settled over Delhi, disrupting flights, blocking buildings from view and prompting the city’s chief minister to declare a “medical emergency.”

But overall, India – the world’s most populous nation with 1.4 billion people dropped from third to fifth place from the previous year, according to the report.

But the report said air pollution “remains a significant health burden… reducing life expectancy by an estimated 5.2 years.”

India’s neighbors Bangladesh and Pakistan – together home to some 400 million people – were second and third-most polluted countries globally in terms of PM2.5 molecules, according to the report.

China – which used to dominate global rankings of the world’s worst air – noted a small improvement, the report said.

Its national annual average PM2.5 concentration decreased from 32.5 micrograms per cubic meter to 31, with air quality improving in megacities like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the report said.

China is the world’s largest carbon dioxide emitter but in recent years has waged a campaign against air pollution, particularly in the cities that have fuelled its economic growth, and has pushed a massive expansion in solar and wind power.

But last month two clean-energy groups raised alarm over what they said were plans by China’s power industry to build nearly 100 gigawatts of new coal plant capacity last year, the most in nearly a decade.

All 20 of the world’s most polluted cities last year exceeded WHO PM2.5 guidelines by over 10 times, the IQ Air report showed.

Data gaps

“Air pollution remains a critical threat to both human health and environmental stability, yet vast populations remain unaware of their exposure levels,” said Frank Hammes, Global CEO of IQAir.

Iran and Afghanistan did not feature in this year’s report due to a lack of data availability.

Air quality monitoring in Southeast Asia is also a problem, with nearly all countries having “significant gaps in government-led initiatives,” the report found.

In 2024, 173 out of 392 cities in the region lacked government monitoring stations, while Cambodia had none, it said.

Those problems are likely to be exacerbated after the US announced earlier this month that it would stop sharing air quality data gathered from its embassies and consulates worldwide due to “funding constraints” the Associated Press reported.

“Air quality data saves lives,” said Hammes.

“It creates much needed awareness, informs policy decisions, guiding public health interventions, and empowers communities to take action to reduce air pollution and protect future generations.”

Worst cities in North America

Only 17% of 8,954 cities analyzed globally by IQAir recorded air quality which met WHO pollution guidelines, the report said.

The cities with the worst air pollution in North America were Ontario, Bloomington and Huntington Park – all in California, the report said.

Overall the United States saw a significant reduction in PM2.5 levels last year, with the annual average dropping 22% from 2023.

Northern America has long boasted vigorous air quality monitoring systems, contributing 56% of the total number of ground-based air quality monitoring stations included in the IQ Air report – helping scientists with their continued research on air quality and aiding policymakers to make decisions about public health.

Only 12 countries, regions, and territories recorded PM2.5 concentrations below the WHO guidelines, most of which were in the Latin America and Caribbean or Oceania region.

The report called on governments to dedicate funding for renewable energy projects and “strengthen emission limits for vehicles and industrial activities.”

Advice Suman wishes authorities in Byrnihat would take to save her city from appearing at the top of the most polluted list again next year.

“People around have developed breathing issues over the years as well,” she told CNN.

“This is my birthplace. I am a local. I do not want to leave this area. We want the governments to do more, come together and work for us.”

Aishwarya S Iyer contributed reporting

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By Karen Lema

MANILA (Reuters) – Former Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte left Manila on a jet on Tuesday bound for The Hague, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said, hours after he was arrested at the request of the International Criminal Court over a “war on drugs” that defined his presidency.

Duterte, a firebrand ex-mayor and former prosecutor who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was arrested at a Manila airport early on Tuesday, in a major step in the ICC’s investigation into thousands of killings in an anti-drugs crackdown that caused shock and condemnation around the world.

“I am confident the arrest was proper, correct and followed all necessary legal procedures,” Marcos told a press conference confirming Duterte had left the country bound for the Netherlands.

“We did not help the International Criminal Court in any way. The arrest was made in compliance with Interpol.”

The “war on drugs” was Duterte’s signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial crime-buster to power and he soon delivered on promises he made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of drug pushers and users.

Duterte has long insisted he instructed police to kill only in self-defence and has always defended the crackdown, repeatedly telling his supporters he was ready to “rot in jail” if it meant ridding the Philippines of drugs.

Veronica Duterte, the 79-year-old’s youngest daughter, said on Instagram her father had boarded the jet but the family had not been informed of its destination.

“The airplane used to kidnap my dad just left minutes ago,” she posted.

Duterte could become Asia’s first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.

RIGHTS GROUPS

His arrest follows years of him rebuking and taunting the ICC since he unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the court’s founding treaty in 2019 as it started looking into allegations of systematic murders of drug dealers on his watch.

The ICC, a court of last resort, is probing alleged crimes against humanity and says it has jurisdiction to investigate alleged crimes that took place while a country was a member.

Duterte and his family and allies expressed fury at the arrest, calling it unlawful.

A lawyer petitioned the Supreme Court on Duterte’s behalf on Tuesday seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent authorities from complying with the ICC’s request.

A copy of the warrant, seen by Reuters, said Duterte is accused of criminal responsibility for the murder of at least 43 people between 2011 and 2019, which would include time when he served as mayor of southern Davao City.

Human rights groups and families of victims said his detention was a key step towards accountability for the killings of thousands of people in the Philippines, where police investigations have moved at a snail’s pace. Duterte has not been charged with any crimes locally.

According to police, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations under Duterte’s presidency that they say ended in shootouts. But activists say the real toll of the crackdown was far greater, with many thousands more slumland drug users, some named on community “watch lists”, killed in mysterious circumstances.

The prosecutor of the ICC has said as many as 30,000 people may have been killed by police or unidentified individuals.

Police have rejected allegations from rights groups of systematic murders, staged crime scenes and fabricated incident reports.

(Reporting by Karen Lema, Adrian Portugal and Mikhail Flores; Additional reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Alison Williams)

Missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki’s clothes were found on the Dominican Republic beach where authorities believe she was last seen going for a swim, two police sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News on Monday.

The 20-year-old Konanki, a legal permanent U.S. resident and an Indian citizen, vanished early Thursday while she and a group of students were on a spring break trip to a resort in Punta Cana, according to the Loudoun County, Virginia, Sheriff’s office.

Konanki and one of her traveling companions were Loudoun County residents, the sheriff’s office said.

Konanki’s clothes were discovered on a portable beach bed close to the beach where she went missing, the sources told ABC News. Police have found no evidence of violence, according to the sources.

After going to a nightclub on Wednesday night, Konanki and a group of people went to the beach about 4 a.m. local time on Thursday, the sources said. The other women traveling with Konanki went back to their hotel about 5:55 a.m. and were captured on security camera returning to their rooms, the sources noted.

A man stayed behind with Konanki on the beach, according to a Dominican Republic investigative police report. The man, whose name was not released, told police that he and Konanki went for a swim and got caught by a big wave, the police report said.

MORE: Mother of 2 dies mysteriously while on flight back from Dominican Republic

The man, according to sources, told police that when he got back to the beach he threw up and went to sleep on a beach bed. When he woke up, Konanki was nowhere to be seen, the sources said.

Security video showed the man coming back to his hotel room at 9:55 a.m., according to the sources.

The man is not considered a suspect in Konanki’s death, the chief of the Civil Defense in the Dominican Republic told ABC News on Monday.

Right now, the investigation is being treated as an accident, the chief said.

MORE: 2 bodies found confirmed as New York couple missing in Dominican Republic

Law enforcement authorities are increasing the perimeter of the search area of beaches and water in the ongoing operation to find Konanki, according to the chief.

Three Dominican officials involved in the investigation told ABC News over the weekend that Konanki is believed to have drowned in the ocean.

The last time Konanki was seen on the beach on security camera footage was around 4:15 a.m. Thursday, the Dominican Republic Public Ministry told ABC News.

The Public Ministry was first contacted by the U.S. embassy in the Dominican Republic on Friday, the Ministry said.

Officials said Konanki’s friends who were with her around the time of her disappearance were questioned by police and have not been charged with crimes.

A joint investigation Konanki’s disappearance is being conducted by the FBI, the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic, the Dominican National Police and the Dominican Prosecutor’s office, sources close to the investigation told ABC News.

The investigators will question everyone involved in the incident again, including hotel employees and the man Konanki’s friends say she was with before she disappeared, the sources said.

All security camera footage since the day Konanki and her five friends arrived on the island is now being analyzed, sources said.

New details emerge in search for missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The National Institutes of Health will cancel or cut back dozens of grants for research on why some people are reluctant to be vaccinated and how to increase acceptance of vaccines, according to an internal email obtained by The Washington Post on Monday.

The email, titled “required terminations – 3/10/25,” shows that on Monday morning, the agency “received a new list … of awards that need to be terminated, today. It has been determined they do not align with NIH funding priorities related to vaccine hesitancy and/or uptake.”

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of NIH’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, has disparaged vaccines for years. He gained national notoriety over the past two decades by promoting misinformation about vaccines and a conjectured link to autism, drawing widespread condemnation from the scientific community.

It is unclear if Kennedy had a role, directly or indirectly, in the move to cancel these grants. But his ascendancy to HHS leadership has caused a stir in the research community. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, another part of HHS, was asked by the Trump administration to launch a study into a possible connection between vaccines and autism, despite repeated research that shows no link between the two.

Spokespeople at NIH and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Monday’s email was sent by Michelle Bulls, director of the Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration. It instructed NIH officials who dispense money to researchers around the country to send termination letters by the close of business Monday. It did not specify where the order originated.

For some studies that are partly about vaccine hesitancy and uptake, officials can offer the option of defunding only those activities, the email shows.

The termination notice should include the following language, according to the email: “It is the policy of NIH not to prioritize research activities that focuses gaining scientific knowledge on why individuals are hesitant to be vaccinated and/or explore ways to improve vaccine interest and commitment. … Therefore, the award is terminated.”

The email flagged more than 40 grants, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the new order.

It is an especially fraught time to be canceling research into vaccine hesitancy, some experts argued, with more than 200 cases of measles in 12 states and two deaths from the disease. Measles vaccination rates have declined among kindergartners in the United States since 2019. All states and the District require measles vaccinations for schoolchildren, but more parents are requesting exemptions, citing medical, religious or philosophical reasons.

“There is an urgent need to enhance vaccine acceptance behavior, especially due to the potential resurgence of measles and covid-19 still looming,” said Manoj Sharma, a professor of social and behavioral health at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, who had a CDC grant that ended last year to evaluate vaccine hesitancy.

Delesha Carpenter, a professor at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has had an NIH grant to focus on coronavirus vaccine hesitancy for three years, along with partners at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of South Carolina.

She has been bracing for the work to be upended, but she had not heard Monday afternoon whether her funding has been terminated.

“If we take away research on vaccine hesitancy, we’re also going to be taking away the ability to provide people with the best information about whether the vaccine is in their best interest,” Carpenter said. “They still have the decision to make.”

Michael Bronstein, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Minnesota Medical School, said his grant from the National Institute of Mental Health has not been affected, as far as he knows.

“From a public health perspective, preventing people from dying should be a government goal,” he said. “Vaccine hesitancy is one barrier to that.”

NIH, the world’s largest sponsor of biomedical research, has terminated more than a dozen grants related to China and transgender research, according to social media posts by Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, which is leading government efforts to sharply cut spending and the size of the federal workforce.

Documents obtained by The Washington Post showed that last week, grants management staff were given guidance on how to terminate funding related to diversity, equity and inclusion. That guidance included “language provided to NIH by HHS providing examples for research activities that NIH no longer supports.”

Those topics included funding to Chinese universities; for diversity, equity and inclusion; and for transgender issues. The language used in the notices created anguish within NIH, according to several people familiar with the notices.

There are two active grants to Chinese universities listed in an NIH database.

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WASHINGTON – The shrill, metallic banging noises of a jack hammer echoed around the White House on Monday as crews started removing the large, yellow Black Lives Matter mural down the street from the president’s home.

The city erected the artwork in 2020 amid sweeping, nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minneapolis police.

But Mayor Muriel Bowser announced plans to replace the mural last week after Republican lawmakers threatened to revoke millions of dollars in transportation funding for the capital city if it wasn’t removed.

The move comes as President Donald Trump and his fellow GOP leaders have widely targeted diversity efforts – in the federal government, schools, private businesses and more.

As the sun beat down on Monday afternoon, a crew of around seven men in yellow safety vests tore up pavement and uprooted black barricades that surrounded the 50-foot-wide artwork.

Most of the people who stopped to watch the work told USA TODAY they were sad to see the installation go. Sitting on a nearby bench, Karen Long, a former D.C. resident who moved back to neighboring Arlington, Virginia, two years ago, described the construction scene as “somber.”

Long, 55, said she heard about the demolition on the morning news and needed to see it for herself. Although disheartened by the effort, Long said she viewed the mural’s removal as part of the long “moving process” of change.

Black lives, she said, would matter regardless of yellow paint on the ground.

More: Donald Trump says he isn’t considering pardoning Derek Chauvin in George Floyd’s murder

“There was a movement, and there’s still going to be a movement,” she said. “This is not the end of it. This is just somebody saying, ‘Hey, I don’t like that symbol being there’ because they feel some kind of way about it, so let them have it.”

Sharifa Ganthier, a DJ, walked to the mural with her husband Marvin from their home near D.C.’s Union Market. When the mural was constructed in 2020, Ganthier, 37, said it brought a bit of “togetherness” to a city that saw turmoil during the COVID-19 pandemic and protests over racial injustice.

But Trump – and his fellow Republicans who control the House and Senate – have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion pushes, many of which were ushered in during the demonstrations after Floyd’s death.

“We have ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and, indeed, the private sector and our military,” Trump said during his joint address to Congress last week. “And our country will be woke no longer.”

Bowser ordered the painting of the mural in June 2020. It came after protesters were removed from the area with smoke canisters and pepper spray just before the president, who was in his first term, walked through Lafayette Park to pose for photographs at a nearby church.

The mayor’s chief of staff at the time said she wanted to make it “abundantly clear” the street belonged to the city and its residents. The plaza quickly became a symbol of defiance for Democrats against the Trump administration in the deep-blue capital.

‘Distraction’

Not all of Washington’s residents were happy with the artwork, however. And not all of the mural’s critics came from the right.

The D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter has long criticized the artwork, calling it in 2020 “a performative distraction from real policy changes” and alleging Bowser was not doing enough to help Black people in the city.

More: America’s largest companies hired more Black executives. Then came the DEI backlash.

Black Lives Matter D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the mural’s demolition.

Many Republican lawmakers have also been critical of Black Lives Matter Plaza, though for different reasons. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., recently introduced legislation that would require the city to repaint and rename the plaza or lose federal funding, alleging the Black Lives Matter movement is corrupt.

“Our capital city must serve as a beacon of freedom, patriotism, and safety — not wokeness, divisiveness, and lawlessness,” Clyde said in a statement announcing the bill.

Marvin Ganthier, 37, said he couldn’t understand criticisms of the mural while standing nearby on Monday.

“I don’t see why anyone would have a problem with it,” said Ganthier, a DJ alongside his wife and a lifelong resident of the district. “They’re not saying your lives don’t matter.

Taking down the mural was a “waste of resources,” that would be better used to fix broken sidewalks elsewhere in the city, he argued.

Removing the mural near the White House is expected to take about six weeks. Bowser said the plaza will be repainted as part of a citywide mural project for the country’s 250th birthday next year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DC begins removal of Black Lives Matter mural near White House